A Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) may be an application layer protocol that facilitates an exchange of a management information between network devices (e.g., thereby enabling network administrators to manage a performance of a network, deal with problems of the network, and/or plan for a growth of the network).
A SNMP managed network may consist of a managed device, a SNMP agent of the managed device, and/or a network-management system (NMS). The managed device (e.g., routers, access servers, switches, bridges, hubs, computer hosts, and/or printers) may be a network node (e.g., the SNMP managed network) that contains the SNMP agent. The managed device may collect and/or store the management information of the managed device and/or make the management information available to the NMS using the SNMP.
The SNMP agent may have a local knowledge of the management information and/or may translate the management information into a form compatible with the SNMP. The NMS may execute an application that monitors and/or controls the managed device. The NMS may provide a bulk of processing and/or memory resources required for a network management.
Different types of SNMP agents may be needed to interface with different types of devices and/or different Operating Systems (OS). Developing the different types of SNMP agents may involve rigorous development and/or maintenance activities. In addition, any change in an implementation of the device may require a change and/or an update in the SNMP agent. Furthermore, the network may use up more memory space to load the different types of SNMP agents that may be needed to support the different types of devices. Accordingly, these requirements may incur more developmental cost, time, manpower, etc.